Eskom will pay R 16.5 million to keep Thyspunt alive

Eskom will be paying a R 16.5 million license application fee to the National Nuclear Regulator to keep alive its long-held ambitions to build a new nuclear power plant at Thuyspunt reports Business Insider.

On Friday energy minister Jeff Radebe decreed that Eskom must pay R 16.499 million for an “installation site licence application” for Thuyspunt.

And this week Eskom confirmed it will make the payment, because it is not done with Thuyspunt just yet.

The payment in this financial year will be made “to ensure the long-term availability of the site for future nuclear construction” the company told Business Insider South Africa.

“These are licence fees and not any new nuclear build investment.”

The payment will secure Eskom a nuclear installation site licence (NISL) for Thuyspunt.

“Given the NISL can be re-approved on a 5-yearly basis, Eskom sees the expenditure as a valuable insurance on the long term value of the site,” Eskom said.

Eskom had originally envisaged building a new nuclear power station at Thuyspunt and later adding more nuclear capacity at Duynefontein, right next to its existing Koeberg nuclear plant outside Cape Town.